My Father's Keeper
by Smudge93
Summary: A seemingly random meeting in a bar spells trouble for Dean and Sam. Set sometime after BUABS so anything before that is fair game. As usual I own nothing. This gets bloody at points. Not a deathfic
1. Chapter 1

My Father's Keeper

A random meeting in a bar spells trouble for Sam and Dean.

I own nothing, this gets bloody at points! Not a deathfic.

Moth To The Flame

Sam walked into the bar in which he was supposed to meet his brother. He knew Dean was here already when he noticed a few pissed-off looking males sitting at the quiet end of the bar glowering at the man sitting at the other. The man, his brother, was at the other end where the fourteen prettiest women in the place had all decided they needed to be to get a drink. And yes Sam had counted them, even without thinking about it.

Only two females in the place weren't sitting on a stool or leaning on the bar where Dean sat and one of those was serving him a drink. Sam saw her receive the famous Winchester smile and she lent a bit further over than was really necessary giving his brother a clear view down her cleavage. A view that was not lost on Dean. He leaned forward and whispered something in her ear and she laughed, pushing him away playfully with her hand and sorted her top. Fourteen scowls watched her.

It was her turn to scowl as she was summoned to the other end of the bar to work rather than flirt. Fourteen smiles followed her.

Dean, of course, was in his element, his smile bright enough to power half the state and, Sam noticed, at least two napkins folded on the bar in front of him. This of course either meant Dean was going to be out _all_ night or there was about to be a hell of a catfight. Sam settled on the fact that this would be the last he'd see of his brother tonight.

"Sa-m-my!" Dean's voice cut through the noise in the bar and Sam was acutely aware that fifteen pairs of eyes were now looking at him, and only one pair was neither undressing him nor had that 'not been fed for a week' look. The hole he hoped would materialise didn't and so he walked forward to greet his brother. He concentrated only on his brother's face, cutting a path through the throng of womanhood, jumping as a hand grasped his backside, as he finally made it through to the bar.

"Dean that so better not have been you!" Dean held his hands up and laughed as Sam turned and leaned back on the bar, firmly putting his backside out of harm's way. Dean signalled the barmaid and he and his brother instantly had a drink in front of them. One thing that Dean would never be in this bar was thirsty, Sam thought and smiled. Dean leant in to talk to him.

"Sammy, the ladies like you!" He patted his brother on the chest. " Relax and enjoy my brother, I mean have you ever seen such fine ladies?" Dean raised his eyebrows.

One of woman leant over and whispered something in Dean's ear which must have been good because his brother almost spat his drink right across the bar.

"Really? You'd do that for _me_?" Dean grin was now seriously in danger of cutting his ears off, it was _that_ wide. "Do I _have _your number?" Sam stifled a laugh as yet another napkin appeared in front of his brother.

"You do know that you're in danger of being torn limb from limb by this lot?" Sam leant in to talk to Dean as he said this, and yet again felt a hand. "Hey!"

"Gotta love the danger, Sammy" Dean stood and tried to force his way out of the circle of women that surrounded them. Sam grabbed him. "Where are you going? Don't you dare."

Dean laughed "Easy there, Sammy." He peeled his brother's hand from his arm and pointed towards the toilets in the corner.

"Ladies, I'll be back in a moment, nature calls, but feel free to keep my little brother entertained while I'm gone!" He flashed a smile at Sam's horrified look, the small gap that Dean had opened up instantly closing behind him trapping Sam against the bar. He was sure that he heard his brother's laugh above the bar noise.

Sam thought he'd rather face a hundred pissed off demons than a few horny women!

Sam watched as his brother stopped to talk to a small brunette who was over in the corner, her back was to him but he could tell she was pretty because Dean had his 'interested' face on. She reached up and touched his brother's face, speaking to him, drawing herself close to him, kissing him gently on the lips. Sam looked at the lustful expression on his brother's face and knew that he was about to get ditched. Dean looked towards him, shrugged his shoulders, raised his eyebrows and then Sam watched as they walked passed the bathrooms and out of the back door.

_Son of a bitch, don't you leave me here, Dean._

Sam looked down and realised that the woman surrounding him had watched the little exchange and realised that their prize had escaped them. He was suddenly aware that the circle around him had tightened considerably. Sam pushed off the bar and made a run for the door, almost squeaking as he lost pieces of his ass on the way out. His phone rang as he reached the relative safety of the outside world.

"Hey, Sammy, what's up? I'm out of here." Dean voice sounded strange.

Sam scanned the lot. The Impala was still there but Dean was nowhere to be seen.

"Dude, are you with someone?" Sam could hear noises in the background but couldn't quite make them out. "Dean, where are you?"

"Mustang, parked at the end of the lot." Dean let out a groan and Sam felt the urge to throw up.

"God Dean, Were you just gonna leave me? Where are the damn car keys?" Sam held the phone away so as to drown out the serious happy noises coming from his brother. _Did my brother just giggle!_

"Dean!"

"Hold on, keys for my brother, can you just give me a minute, yes please. I'll be back. Oh yeah! Oh, now, now, no, stop that!" Sam didn't know if his brother was talking to him or his companion, he could hear a woman's voice through the phone, his brother groaned again.

"DEAN!"

Sam was on his way over to the Mustang, when the door opened and his brother almost fell out. He was looking ever so slightly flustered, trying to pull his shirt down and his jacket back on.

"Thought you were just going to the toilet?"

_Oh, oh Sammy pissed at me.__ Dean swallowed the smile that tried to break across his face._

"I was, she followed me. God Sam, I mean have you seen this girl and the way she……."

"ENOUGH!" Sam put his hands over his ears, then dropped one and held it out to his brother. "Dean, just give me the damn keys and I'll see you in the morning!"

"Yeah, if she doesn't kill me before then!" Dean grinned his shit-faced grin at Sam and got back in the car, the female in it leaning over to him obviously intent on finishing what she'd started.

"God, go get a room!" Sam walked back to the Impala shaking his head. He took one last look at the Mustang which was now reversing and pulling out of the lot, then climbed in and drove out behind them, thankfully he thought, going the other way.

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Sam woke up to an empty room, his brother obviously not having made it back.

He showered, dressed and then checked his phone again. No messages, no missed calls. Sam looked at his watch; it was nine o'clock, so maybe his brother hadn't surfaced yet from where ever the hell he'd ended up last night. Sam went to get a coffee and some breakfast.

He sat doing research for an hour and started to feel the first fluttering that something might be wrong. Dean normally would be back by now or would have checked in with him at least. He flipped his phone and hit re-dial. Dean's phone was answered after two rings but instead of his brother on the line Sam was speaking to, he presumed, the female he'd only viewed briefly in the Mustang last night.

"Hello?" She had a beautiful voice, soft and low.

"Hi is Dean there?" _Stupid question, Sammy, seeing as how she's got his phone._

"Hi, is this Sam? Your Dean's brother right?" _God is she psychic too?_

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Caller ID? That and he mentioned you."

"So you guys actually found time to talk then?" _Smooth Sammy, Dean's gonna love you for that one._

She laughed; soft and breathless sounding and Sam felt goose bumps rise on his neck_. I so know why my brother went with you, especially if you are as pretty as you sound._

"Is Dean there?"

"He's sleeping, do you want me to give you the address and you can come get him?"

Sam thought it wasn't like Dean to sleep this late but then again, he supposed, it depended on what he had been up to all night.

"Thanks." Sam noted down the address and the directions and set out in the car.

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The house was a pretty little single story affair, freshly painted in a sunny yellow colour, warm, friendly and inviting. Sam parked up behind the Mustang and climbed the porch steps to the front door.

There was a swing seat on the porch and hundreds on flower pots with a rainbow of coloured flowers in every one. A small black cat stretched lazily, eyed him up and down and then disappear through a small flap in the door.

He knocked and then turned to survey the clearing it which the little house sat. It was quite secluded, with a tidy yard to one side. The alarm above the door seemed out of place in the scheme of things; Sam noted that it looked fairly hi-tech. The curtain at the door moved and he heard the door unlock.

The woman at the door was petite, brunette and had shocking blue eyes. Sam realised that she reminded him of someone, especially the eyes but couldn't think who. She smiled and he thought that she was stunning, not beautiful but she had a presence about her that Sam knew would have been what drew his brother to her. _A wolf in sheep's clothing. _The strange thought lingered in Sam's head.

"Hi, I'm Sam." He smiled and reached out a hand, which she took, Sam noticing how soft her skin was. Her presence seemed to have put him on a sensory overload which he didn't quite understand.

"Hi I'm Grace. Come in." She stepped back to let Sam enter. "Your brother's upstairs in the shower. I'll put some coffee on if you want to go get him, second door on your right." She smiled and walked off in the direction of the back of the house.

"Thanks." Sam called after her and she raised her hand in acknowledgement. He climbed the stairs and went through the door as directed. The room was a small bedroom with a bathroom off. His brother's jacket and shirt were lying on the end of the bed and there was steam drifting out the open bathroom door.

"Dean?" Sam walked over and knocked the door. "Dean? Are you good to go?"

"Sam?"

Her voice came from directly behind him, he turned and she shot him right in the chest. He collapsed and looked up at her as the room faded, her blue eyes now lit with rage, then his world went black.


	2. Am I The Kinda Girl?

Am I The Kinda Girl?

Dean had had quite a night; his two favourite sins had been well and truly sated, gluttony and lust. He had way too much to drink and way too much of Grace and he had woken this morning with a feeling that he couldn't quite remember the last time he had felt. Contentment. He was quite happy to lie here and not move, Grace still beside him.

Grace eluded a peaceful calm about her which was infectious, he hadn't felt this relaxed and well, normal, in a long time. He closed his eyes and tried to will himself back to sleep, not wanting to break the spell of the moment, reluctant to let his life leech in and spoil it. He felt Grace move beside him, her long slender hand ran across his chest and he felt her breath on his face as her lips sought his. He groaned softly as she moved her lips down along his throat and then along to his ear. Her voice was soft and teasing.

"Hungry?" He could hear the smile in her voice.

"Hell,yeah."

He put his arms around her and pulled her to him, seeking her mouth, kissing her, his hands in her hair. Then she was pushing away, breaking the circle of his arms.

"I didn't mean that kind of hungry." She swatted at him, laughing as she did, teasing him.

He opened his eyes and reached for her hand as she rolled onto the other side of the bed. He sat up leaning on one arm, knowing that he was grinning at her like an idiot but somehow unable to stop himself.

"I know, but I did."

He reached up to touch her hair with his free hand when the necklace that she wore caught his eye and distracted him from his intent to keep her beside him. He caught the small piece of metal that hung from the chain around her neck in his hand and fingered it. It was a small square and Dean was sure that it was lead; he'd know the feel of that anywhere. There were small markings on it that he couldn't quite make out yet which seemed familiar to him.

"That's unusual." He turned it in his hand watching as it seemed to soak up the light, no reflection on the dull surface. He tried to think were he had seen one of these before.

"My dad gave it to me, a present, before he died." The change in her voice made him look at her eyes and he was surprised to see the cold detachment in them. He knew that look, had seen it often enough in the mirror after his own father had died.

"I'm sorry. Has it been long?"

"Three months."

The sadness in her voice brought a swell of his own emotions dangerously near the surface.

"I lost my dad recently too, I kinda know how you feel."

She turned to look at him and he caught something else in her eyes. A brief flick of anger.

"No Dean, I don't think you do." She smiled at him but it didn't reach her eyes. She pulled herself out of bed and pulled on her robe.

"Coffee?" She never turned as she walked to the door, only paused at it for his answer.

"Thanks."

He threw himself back on the bed and sighed, his peaceful moment had imploded.

Standing he reached for his watch, nine o'clock, he'd better check in with Sam before he got his panties in a knot. He searched his jacket for his phone. _Damn it, where the hell have I put that._ He padded to the bedroom door.

"Grace? Grace?"

Her head appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "What?"

"Have you seen my phone, I'd better check in with my neurotic brother before he thinks I'm lying dead in a ditch somewhere."

"It's down here. Go get a shower; I'll bring it up with the coffee"

He grabbed his jeans and his boxers from the floor on the way by and headed for the bathroom.

Grace was sitting on the bed when he came back out, dressed in old jeans and a blue blouse which made her blue eyes glow. He smiled at her and sat down beside her.

She looked at him. "I'm sorry, I overreacted there but my dad's death wasn't pleasant and I still feel pretty raw about it." She sat playing with the necklace, turning it in her fingers. She realised that she like Dean but she had started this and there was no turning back now. "It just hurts, you know, there's a hole that I can't fill, and I still see him lying there, dead." A tear escaped her.

Dean nodded. He could identify with that, he still thought about his father's death everyday and each day did nothing to ease the pain inside. The nightmares where the worst, the ones were he dreamed of his father burning in hell. Burning in hell for him.

He put his arms around her and pulled her to him, as much to comfort himself as her. She reached up and kissed him and he closed his eyes. He felt her arms go round his neck and then something scraped his back. He tried to pull away and the needle of the syringe in her hand stabbed through the skin at the base of his neck, the liquid hot as it entered him. She jumped back and stepped away. He tried to stand up but his legs wouldn't hold him and he fell to his knees in front of her, his world spinning as he did.

He couldn't believe how completely she had got him to let his guard down, got him to let her in. His last thought as he lost consciousness….._Bitch!_

Grace jumped as the phone in her pocket started to ring. She pulled it out and smiled as she read the name on the caller ID.

_Showtime._

"Hello?" Her voice was soft and low.

"Hi, is this Sam? Your Dean's brother right?"


	3. Hurt The Ones They Love

Hurt The Loves They Love

She was standing in front of him as he slowly came too. Her face swam into focus inches from his and she was smiling, but the smile was cold and hard.

The room he was in was dark, just a small bare bulb overhead to chase the gloom. He had been in a bedroom so had no idea how the hell he'd woken up here, wherever here was. The room felt cold and smelt damp, obviously a cellar of some sort then. He tried to move but the feel of the cold steel on his wrists, which were now above his head; let him know that he wasn't going anywhere, for now at least. The blood pounded through his brain and his chest hurt like a bitch when he tried to move.

"I thought you'd never wake up, didn't want you to miss the show." She pulled his head back and banged it hard against the wall, the pain exploding through his skull.

"Oh I'm sorry but you were just too heavy to carry down here so I had to drag you. Think you may have bumped your head back there a bit." She threw his head back off the wall again.

"You shot me." He swallowed the pain in his head down, tried to stop the room revolving around him.

She laughed and walked to the table behind her, lifting the gun she came back and straddled him, running the cold steel down his face.

"Aren't you glad it was a tranquillizer and not the real thing? I mean after all the things I've heard about you two boys I'm disappointed because this was so easy. The great Sam and Dean Winchester, caught by a flash of skin and the promise of a good time. Your brother really needs to keep a leash on it you know? Although to be fair I did have a little help." She turned the pendant hanging from her neck in her fingers, letting him have a good look at it. "Do you know what this is?" Sam recognised the markings but his head hurt just too damn much to think straight. _Think Sam, you've seen this._

"It looks like…..like a curse tablet."

"Well done, you know I think your brother almost guessed that too, before I…..well we'll get to Dean later."

Sam desperately wanted to ask her where Dean was, what she had done with him but he'd guess that she was counting on that and so he resisted, tried to get her to lay out the game plan for him.

"Who'd you curse, me or Dean?"

"Oh this curse tablet carries a love spell, moth to a flame so to speak. Normally it's placed in the intended's home, but as you boys don't really have one, I had to improvise slightly. Luckily my daddy taught me well. See this here, that's your brother's name, he couldn't resist me not that he wanted to. Quite the adventurous lover your brother, we had a real good time." She leant forward and licked his face. "I knew of course that if I got one then the other would surely follow, you're kinda a 'two for the price of one' deal aren't you?"

"So who are you? What the hell do you want with us? Perhaps that should be what are you?" He turned his head to the side and instantly regretted it as the pain surfaced again.

"All things in good time, you know you haven't asked me about your brother yet. I'm surprised. Don't you care what I did with him?" She reached into her pocket and Sam felt his chest hitch. She had Dean's amulet in her hand and it was covered in blood.

"Son of a bitch, what have you done to my brother?" She smiled as she saw the concern finally flash into his eyes. This was what she wanted, what she craved.

"Dean's quite the bleeder." She stood and again went to the table; lifting a container off of it she turned and held it under the light. "What you reckon Sammy, two pints? Brother of yours isn't gonna be feeling too great after loosing this is he? And this is just the bit I saved."

"It's not his." _Please god, don't let that be Dean's blood. _

She walked over and poured the contents of the container over his head, down his face, he could feel the warmth of it, the coppery taste in his mouth. _God, it's warm, the damn blood still warm._

She whispered in his ear, her voice soft and sexy. "Oh yes it is, the blood of the sacrificial lamb. Your brother's blood." He knew she wasn't lying, knew she wasn't just trying to scare him, something in the way she said the words chilling him.

"What did my brother ever do to you? Why are you doing this? Where is he?" Sam wanted to wipe the blood from him but he couldn't and so he sat with Dean's blood dripping down his face and he wanted to scream, wanted to put his hands round her throat and throttle her. The rage shone in his eyes.

"That's it show me all that rage and anger that's in there. Show me why I'm going to kill your brother. Dean's not dead, not yet, but he will be and I'm going to make it nice and slow. What did your brother ever do to me? Nothing, not really, but he helped you, kept you safe, and covered for you. So now, now he's going to bleed for you until he can't bleed anymore."

Sam lunged forward ignoring the pains that shot up his arms his muscles protesting at sudden movement. "I'm gonna rip your friggin' heart out!"

She pushed him back against the wall, pinning him, her strength surprising for her size.

"You've already done that Sam Winchester, and now…now I'm going to do it to you."

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Dean felt like meat on hook, which given his present predicament wasn't far off the mark. She had handcuffed his hands behind him, and then pulled the handcuffs up high, hooking them on the wall, forcing him into a kneeling position, keeping his head down.

_All those women in that bar and I had to pick __the psycho bitch from hell! Damn Winchester luck!_

"So you've got me here, what do you intend to do with me, I mean there isn't that much left for us to try, not after last night." He struggled to lift his head wanting to look her in the eye. "The handcuffs are kinda kinky; I like them, although I'm not to taken with the position. On my knees, not really my thing." His smile was half smile, half manic grin.

"Not a submissive then, huh Dean?" She laughed. "Funny after last night, I kinda thought you were, I mean you lay down quick enough for me? All I had to do was ask."

"Lady, when I get out of these cuffs, and I _will_ get out of these cuffs, you're gonna _wish_ I _was _submissive."

She knelt down in front of him and the necklace touched his face.

Dean groaned, but not from pain or pleasure as the thought entered his head. "It's the damn necklace; you did something to me with the damn necklace. What is it, a binding spell?"

"Very good, Dean. Slow, but very good." She ran her fingers down his face and he could feel the want rise in him again, her touch sending little jolts of electricity through him.

"I aim to please." He put on the best cocky grin he could muster and hoped it was enough to mask the pain and desire in him.

She dug her nails into the flesh of his face, drawing blood. "Oh you did, believe me." She kissed his lips and he tried not to respond, not to show the effect her touch was having on him. "The necklace is a curse tablet, a love spell, with your name on it." She moved up gently caressing his head in her hands. A small groan escaped him making her smile.

"Friggin' witch, I might have known. Like I said, you got me here, what now?"

"Oh, now Dean, I'll not a witch. I'm a hunter, just like you." She let go and he groaned from the relief but also from the loss of her touch.

"Yeah, 'cos hunters like me go around torturing or ganking other hunters, I musta lost that handbook."

"Your brother didn't."

"Sam? What hunter did Sam ever…..?" The question froze on his lips. _A picture of Sam bloody with the knife in his hand and Steve Wandel bleeding out at his feet. Another picture of Sam sitting at Steve Wandel's desk reading a letter from his daughter._ _Shit, his daughter!_

"Oh, something coming back to you there Dean?"

"My brother has never killed another hunter, ever."

"You sure about that, 'cos I really don't like liars Dean, they make me mad" She pulled his head up and his body moaned in protest.

"Well better not look in the mirror then any time soon."

"Funny, Dean." She placed her hand on his chest, pushing him backwards. He felt the muscles in his left shoulder tear and tried to stifle the scream that wanted to desperately escape him.

"Does that hurt?" She lifted his head with her free hand; saw the pain in his eyes. "Good!"

She pushed back harder and he heard and felt the pop as his left shoulder dislocated. The pain was like a red hot poker through his body and this time the scream did escape. "You bitch!"

She screamed back at him. "I saw the security footage, I watched him do it! I watched you come back with him and clean up after him! Did you know that breaking a hard drive doesn't erase it Dean? I do, it took me a while but I got just enough out of it to watch the highlights of your brother slitting my father's throat and then _you _clearing up after him!"

Her voice was calmer when she spoke again.

"You know I think we need to do something to take your mind off of all that pain in your shoulder." She stood, leaning on his hurt shoulder for purchase, digging her nails into his already tender flesh. He buckled beneath her, sinking as low as his restraints would allow.

"He was possessed." Dean's voice was almost a plea.

"I don't care; the knife was still in his hands. My father's blood was still on his hands."

His voice was low, pain filled as he asked the question. "What are going to do to my brother?"

She stood before him again and the light reflected on the blade of the knife she held in one hand, a container in the other. She plunged the knife deep into Dean's hand, twisting it as it went in. His scream filled the room. Tears ran down his face.

Eventually, she knelt before Dean, placing the container filled with his blood on the floor. She reached out gently and wiped his tears away, her voice when she spoke soft and low again, caressing.

"I going to do to him what he did to me, I'm going to take away the only person in this world that he loves_."_

" _And I'm going to make him watch_."


	4. Love Lies Bleeding

Love Lies Bleeding

Dean watched as she left the room, annoyed with himself at having fallen so easily, not once stopping to question his feelings as he had left with her from the bar. He was tired, he was worried about Sam and he had lost his edge, had done the one thing he never did, he let his guard slip and landed them both in trouble.

Dean sat and though about what he would have done if he had had to watch someone do what Sam, no Meg he mentally corrected himself, had done to either of his family. Sam had been possessed but there was no way to prove that to her and she really didn't strike Dean as the listening type.

He knew that if someone had hurt his family, especially what Sam/Meg had done, he would have ripped them apart, hunted them down and destroyed them and he knew that that was precisely what Grace intended to do. Hell, hadn't he spent the last few months obsessing over the yellow eyed demon, his only desire now to kill it for what it had done to his parents, his family, what it might do to Sam? Yep, Grace was going to kill him, them, because that is what he would do in her situation, but he was damn if he was going out on his knees.

He tried to struggle to his feet, but his legs were dead from having sat so long in the one position and he couldn't push back far enough to get up without tearing up his other shoulder. Defeated for the moment he sank down, his mind racing for another out, the adrenaline pushing back his pain for now. He tried his hands in the cuffs, ignoring the pain that shot down his arm from his injured hand every time he moved it. There was a little bit of give and he pulled, feeling his hand slip a little further into the metal. She had, of course, had to stab the hand on his good shoulder so no matter which he moved the pain was intense but he didn't care, just kept twisting his wrists, slicing them with the serrated edge on the cuffs, pulling hard. He felt his right hand, which was slick with his own blood, slip again and renewed his effort to rip his hand through, but it wouldn't come, the last bit of strength and luck needed to be free evaded him. He closed his eyes just as the door to the room opened.

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Grace walked back into the room to get Sam, chaining his ankles she opened the D-ring on the wall and let his hands drop free in the cuffs. "Try anything and I will kill you and your brother." He felt the blade dig into his ribs.

"Like you don't intend to anyways? Who are you? Why are you doing this?"

"Sorry, I'm so forgetful; revenge doesn't really work if you don't know why, does it? I haven't even told you my full name, where are my manners?" She dug him in the side with the knife hard enough to draw blood.

"My name's Wandel, Grace Wandel. I believe you met my father once?"

She watched the horrified look cross Sam's face.

"See, there you go, I knew you'd remember! Kinda a hard thing to forget, no? Now move!"

She pushed him through the door at the back of the room, forcing him against the wall. "Now sit!" She pulled his hands up and secured him to the wall again. Looking over Sam saw Dean chained to the far wall, his hands pulled cruelly backwards and up above his head, blood running down his right arm and from both wrists.

Dean heard the clank of metal, but was unable to lift his head far enough to see what was happening; there was a muffled sound and then he heard his brother's voice.

"Dean!"

"Sammy, you ok?"

"Yeah." Sam shook his head at the state his brother was in and yet his first thought was still to check if he was ok.

Grace checked Sam was secure and then tutted as she walked toward Dean. "If you wanted free Dean you only had to ask."

She grabbed his hands and turned them, the move designed to hurt as well as let her look at them.

"Dean, Dean." She scolded him. "What have you done to your hands? Look at the mess you've made. They really need some attention, would you like me to look at them for you?"

"No thanks, I'm good."

She walked over to the table in the room next to where Dean was sitting and put the knife she was carrying down. Taking various bottles she looked at the labels until she found what she was looking for.

"Dean, are you alright?" Sam's voice was full of concern so Dean knew that he must look as bad as he felt.

"Awesome, Sammy. Having the time of my life."

"Sorry to interrupt, but I think these wounds need cleaned. Wouldn't want you to die of infection now would we." She took the bottle and grabbed Dean's right hand, holding it out palm up. Dean screamed the minute the liquid touched him; the liquid pooled into the hole in his hand and then slowly worked its way down, deep into the wound. She ran the rest of the bottle down onto the wounds on his wrists and Sam had to look away as his brother squirmed and tried to pull his hands away from her. When Sam looked back Dean had passed out, the pain finally too much for his body to cope with, he'd shut down.

Grace put the bottle down and picked the keys up from the table, checking he was out, she unlock Dean's wrists and then she pulled him out flat on the floor, all the time Sam screaming at her to leave him alone. She smiled over at him and then re-cuffed Dean's right hand and pulled him up to a sitting position cuffing him back to the D-ring on the wall, his left arm hanging free at his side. She put the keys down and then picked up the knife and placed it down next to Dean.

"Please, please don't do this, it's me you want not him, just let him go. I'm sorry, I'll do anything you want me to; please just leave him out of it."

"Now where's the fun in that Sam. How can I torment your every waking thought with images of your brother dying bloody if he doesn't die? I don't want you dead Sam, I want you hurting."

"I was possessed."

"So you both keep saying, but tell me was Dean possessed too? Did he even know _you _were possessed?"

"Sorry?" Grace could see the confusion on Sam's face.

"When you came back to the house to clear up your little mess and leave my father's bloody body lying on the floor for me to find, was your brother possessed too? It's an easy question, yes or no?"

"No, but I mean….." She cut him off.

"I understand you not turning yourself in, I do really, I understand your brother wanting to cover up what you had done, but it was over a _week_ before I came home Sam, I'd been away and he was supposed to have been on a hunt. When I found him he'd been lying there all that time. Do you now how bad a dead body smells after a week in a warm house, how bad it looks? You could have called someone, anyone and got him found but you didn't."

Sam went to speak but he didn't know what to say. She looked him at him, and he found that he couldn't look her in the eye, had to turn away.

"So why did you both just leave him there, on the floor, like some worthless piece of meat? Tell me, huh, why?_ You left him there to rot_, for me to find, and I see that picture _every_ night in my head when I go to sleep. I hate you for murdering my father but I hate your brother just as much for not caring enough to make that call. My father deserved a little respect don't you think? " She turned away from him and he knew that she was crying.

Sam realised that Dean had been so pre-occupied with trying to figure out what was wrong with him that he'd never given the dead hunter a second thought, his only goal to stop someone discovering that it had been Sam that had done this.

"Dean panicked, he didn't think, please….I'm…..."

She turned on him. "I swear to god if you say your sorry to me I'll kill you were you sit." She pointed the gun straight at his head and flicked the safety. Sam dropped his head.

"Go ahead, I deserve it."

"Nice try, Sam Winchester but you're not getting off that easy." She put the gun on the table and pick up a small tube.

"Time to wake up sleeping beauty, don't you think?" She walked over to Dean and waved the open tube under his nose.

"Rise and shine, sleepy head. Time to die."


	5. Dangerous Game

Dangerous Game

Dean slowly felt the world returning, and realised that his viewpoint of it had changed. He was no longer staring at his knees but the concerned face of his brother and the charming Miss Wandel. Dean tried to move his left arm, noting that it was now free and no longer agonisingly held behind him but found that to do so threatened to send him back down so he wisely rested it, trying to keep it as close to his side as possible to ease the ball of pain that was throbbing up and down it. He noticed with interest the knife lying inches from him, although he got the feeling that what ever it was doing there, it wasn't there by accident.

"How are feeling, Dean? You're little nap refresh you?" Dean almost laughed at the concerned note in her voice.

"Yeah, thanks for asking, ready for the next round then bitch? What would you like to do to me now, and keep it clean, I mean, my brother is watching!" Dean tried to pull himself up but realised that the effort wasn't worth it. The look on her face gave him a sick feeling in his stomach.

"We are quite the wit aren't we Dean?" She kicked the knife a little nearer his left hand. "I'm going to give you a choice, something that your brother didn't give my father."

"God woman, are we still on this?" Dean rolled his eyes.

"How's the hand?" He took in the warning in her voice and swallowed his next remark, a questioning look in his green eyes.

"Choices?" Dean mentally locked down, this was game on.

"Choice one; you take that knife and stab yourself with it, and then Sam and I watch as you bleed to death."

"And if I pass?" Dean could see Sam about to speak and he silenced him with a look.

"Choice two; I go over and shoot your brother in the head, and then I kill you anyway."

"Nice choices, now lets see, if I take choice one what's to stop you ganking my brother anyways when I'm dead?" Dean stared straight into her eyes, game face on, his cold eyes glittering. Inside his mind was racing but she was never going to get to know that.

"Well, you and I both know that I want your brother to suffer and he can't do that if he's dead now can he? Where's the fun in that?"

Dean looked down at the knife and then over at his brother. Sam saw the change in Dean, realised that he was actually considering it. "Dean, don't you dare, she gonna kill me anyway, you know that, don't you?"

"Now Sam, my word is my bond, have I lied to you yet Dean?"

"Well you did promise that you were going to do that thing with your tongue and didn't so technically….." She wanted to slap the smile away that appeared on his face.

" Funny, …time's wasting." She walked over and put the gun against Sam's temple. "I'll count to five Dean and then you'll be picking Sam's brains off the floor."

"Why don't you just shoot me in the leg, let me bleed to death that way? Why do you want me to do it? Not got the stones for the kill shot lady?"

"Do I look like a cold blooded killer to you? Do you think I want to be as bad as your brother?"

"Well you are the one with the loaded gun to my brother's head." Dean's smile was vicious.

"I want your brother to know that you killed yourself for him, that you spilt your blood to save his. If I shoot your brother dead then that would be because of you not doing what I want, because you left me no other option. This is my game Dean, you play by my rules or we don't play at all. Do you want your brother death on your hands?" She pressed the gun harder into Sam's temple.

Sam knew the last comment was designed to press his brother's self-destruct button, knew she knew that there was no way Dean would willing allow someone to hurt him if he thought he could do something to stop it. And it worked. He watched in horror as Dean moved forward and grasped the knife loosely in his left arm, hissing at the pain this movement caused in his shoulder.

"Dean, no, don't you do it."

Dean smiled at Sam and Sam knew in that instant that his brother was going to do as she asked; to try and protect him.

"Dean!" Sam's voice rang out as Dean raised the knife and rested the tip on his thigh. He leant forward using his weight and the little strength that he had left in his arm and pushed the knife down and through his flesh, a small gasp escaping him as it slid through his muscle, he pushed until the knife met bone, his shoulder and Sam screaming at him all the time to stop.

"God, Dean, no, no, no." Sam pulled against his restraints desperately wanting to go to his brother's aid.

Dean dropped his head and watched as the blood slowly trickled down his leg and began pooling on the floor. "I can't pull it back out."

She walked over and grasped the handle of the knife, a victorious look now in her eyes. Slowly she pulled the blade free, the blood flow increasing as she did.

"Does it make it better that I did it to myself? Does it make it feel any less like you killed me as you sit and watch me bleed to death?"

He didn't look at her, didn't want an answer. Dean lent back and shut his eyes, wanting the darkness to come and take him for now. He heard the door and knew that he and Sam were alone. He could hear his brother frantically struggling with his bonds, trying to get out, trying to get to him.

"Dean, stay with me, please, just stay with me." Sam's voice sounded broken.

He felt the life force draining out of him and let it go, breathed through the pain, relaxed. He drifted; the last clear sound he heard was his brother's voice calling his name.


	6. Lazarus

Lazarus

Sam felt as if he had been sitting there for hours, but knew it hadn't been, as he watched the colour drain from Dean's face and the pool of blood on the floor growing slowly ever bigger. He felt relief at the fact that Dean had seemed to miss anything vital and sick that this wasn't going to be quick all in the one moment.

He wept openly a mixture of grief and frustration, helplessness washing over him. His brother was dying in front of him and he was powerless to help, a shackled spectator to the end of his brother's life.

He tried to get Dean to respond, but he either wouldn't or couldn't, he just lay against the wall, Sam no longer able to tell if he was even breathing.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

She had come back, and Sam had screamed at her, raged at her for the treatment of his brother but she had ignored him. She checked Dean's pulse, checked his eyes and his breathing and then, putting her gun down on the floor, she reached up and unlocked the handcuff restraining his brother, moving him round letting him lie outstretched on the floor.

Panic filled Sam. _If she's setting Dean free does that mean he's gone?_ Sam started his tirade of abuse again and she turned to look at him.

"Happy now, does my brother dying making everything alright with you? Does it?" She didn't answer just walked to him and knelt in front of him. He could hardly see her for the tears that blinded him, knowing that she was revelling in every drop but not caring.

"It'll be over soon and I'll let you go, I promised him, _and I hope you remember this day 'til you die._" She touched his head and he pulled away.

"Don't touch me, I'm going to kill you, do you hear me? If you let me go, I'm going to hunt you down and kill you for what you've done!" Sam spat the words into her face. He meant it, if he got out of this alive, she was dead.

"I wouldn't expect anything less." Grace's voice and face were both solemn contrasting with his anger.

"Get in line."

The sound of his brother's voice made them both jump. Dean had pulled himself part way up against the wall and was holding her gun in his damaged right hand, his blood dripping off the grip. He had _**that**_ grin on his face and a worryingly mad look in his eyes.

She cursed herself for her stupidity, she had been distracted by Sam, forgot to pick the gun back up, but she had been sure that he was finished, she couldn't believe that he had somehow found the strength to pull himself back. His face had no colour and there were beads of sweat on his forehead. She watched the way the gun wavered in his hand. She could still do this. Still finish this.

"But you were dying….."

"Honey, I'm always dying_. _Down, but not out sister. I did warn you about getting out of the cuffs, didn't I? Did you think I'd just lie down for you twice?"

A grimace of pain flashed across his face.

"The gun? The gun's a bonus 'cos I really don't feel like getting up to kick your ass, but I would have you know, you could bet your sweet life on that. Thanks for the distraction Sammy."

"You faked that! You faked dying!" Her voice was incredulous.

"Almost done it often enough now to know now what it feels like. And believe me, _this, _this feels like it but here's a hint lady, if the red stuff is still pumping out, the heart's still beating, and if the heart's still beating, _don't ever turn your back on me_." Dean's voice was low and pain filled but Sam knew from the tone that Grace was in trouble, real trouble.

Dean looked at his brother and Sam resisted the urge to laugh, his emotions now on overload.

"Well you got me, what now?" Defiance shone in her eyes.

"Way I see it I have two choices." He smiled at her and she felt a chill run through her at the emptiness in his eyes.

"Choice one; I shot you in the head and my brother and I get to live."

He pulled himself up further, crying out as he did.

"Or choice two; I let you go and my brother and I get to spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders, watching for you and your father's friends. Which one do you think I should make? Which one do you think you deserve?"

Dean's hand wavered and he brought his good leg up slightly to rest it on.

"You know that evil, son of bitch brother of mine"…. he smiled as Sam as he said this…… "convinced me once that a man that had hunted him down, tried to shot him, tried to blow him up, had a right to live and so I let him and you know what, I regret that decision every day. Know why? I know at some point we'll end up here with him too. Our lives or his. He's a hunter too."

"Maybe you should go into a whole new line of work?" She moved towards him.

"Stay. I'll do it; I swear to god, I'll do it. I'm on borrowed time already." The double-edged meaning to that remark wasn't lost on Sam. "Uncuff my brother, now, real slow."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her keys. She was reaching up, unlocking the cuffs when Sam saw the flash of silver, felt the blade scrape his neck and then she was falling on him. The gunshot didn't even register with him at first but the cold dead look in her eyes did. Sam pushed her off him and realised that Dean had shot her; clean through the temple, he had seen the knife and instinctively went for the kill shot, even hurt his aim deadly, his only thought to protect his brother. Sam watched as the shock registered on Dean's face, as he dropped the gun and put his hand to his face. Sam grabbed the keys from the floor and freed himself completely, running across to kneel before his brother.

"God Sam, I didn't have a choice, you know that right?" He stared at his brother's face as if for absolution.

"It's ok, Dean, she had a knife, she'd have done it. She knew she'd lost. It's ok. Easy now." Sam gently eased his brother back down onto the floor and then searched around frantically to find something to slow the bleeding.

"I'll be back." Sam raced upstairs and out to the car, pulling the first aid kit from its place in the truck. He tore back into the kitchen and was heading for the cellar, when the jar on the counter caught his eye, his freaky brain instantly retrieving information. He snatched it and continued his run.

Dean somehow was still awake when he got back just staring across the floor at Grace. Sam could see the torment in his brother's eyes caused by what had happened, what he had just had to do, but she had forced it; it was her fault not Dean's. "Everybody's got their limits, Dean." His brother flicked a look at him that told him he wasn't helping.

"Sam, can we just get out of here or are you actually going to just let me bleed to death here on the floor?" Dean was starting to drift again; the will to live that had let him fight back was rapidly deserting him now along with the rest of his blood.

Sam used Grace's knife to split the leg of Dean's jeans. He opened the first aid kit and the jar and poured the cayenne pepper onto Dean's wound. Sam had remembered reading somewhere that it could slow blood loss. It couldn't hurt that was for sure. _Dean's right I am a freak, my brother's dying and I'm thinking about pepper. _

"Dude, you're bleeding on me." Sam put his hand to his neck and realised that Grace had nicked him with the knife. "It's nothing, just a scratch. And will you stop worrying about me." Sam knew the stab wound would need stitched but there was no time. He ripped a pad and bandage from the kit and secured the wound, his fingers working quickly and deftly. "Dean, you shouldn't have done that, I mean you tried to kill yourself, for me."

"Yeah, 'cos people who try to commit suicide always stab themselves in the leg." Dean tried to muster a smile but couldn't. " I missed the good stuff ok, can we go?"

Sam threw the kit to the side. "We can go." Sam realised that Dean had turned his head back and was looking at Grace again lying dead on the floor.

"I swore that it wouldn't happen again." The words had barely registered with Sam when Dean went limp in his arms.

"Dean! Dean!" He felt for a pulse, so weak but there, he lifted his brother and headed for the stairs almost taking them two at a time despite the weight he carried.

He got outside and eased Dean into the Impala, getting in he put Dean's head on his lap and bent the knee on his injured leg, jamming Dean's foot against the passenger door, to raise the wound. Turning the big muscle car round he floored it, kicking dust and gravel in its wake. He picked up his phone as he drove.

"Bobby, its Sam. I need a favour, a big favour."


	7. Dean's Bloody Mary

Dean's Bloody Mary

Sam was sitting in the hospital chair that he had been sitting in for the last two days, just watching his brother breathe. He was lost in thought when Bobby walked through the door.

"How is he?"

"Holding his own, he's lost a hell of a lot of blood though, his blood pressure was low but they think they got him in time. All we need now is for him to wake up." Sam looked at Bobby. "Did you take care of it?"

"It's cleaned, no one'll ever know either of you were there. Quite a set up she had in that cellar, must have been her dad that did that, place to lock _things_ up in." Bobby dug in his pocket. "I found this by the way." Bobby held up Dean's amulet. Sam noted that he had taken the time to clean it.

"Thanks Bobby. " Sam took his pocket knife and slit the knot off of it, standing he slipped the amulet under the tubes, round Dean's neck and tied a new knot in the leather thong. He lifted Dean's top and slipped it inside, safe against his skin. "He would have been hurt to lose this."

Sam looked at Bobby. "What about you know? ….Grace?"

"Sleeping in the cemetery, I buried her with her dad. Seemed the least I could do in the circumstances."

"Oh." Sam leant on his brother's bed.

A thought that had been troubling him surfaced again. It was something that he had dreamed about the last two nights as he had heard Dean's words again in his head. _"I swore that it wouldn't happen again."_ A picture came to Sam._ His brother and him were lying on the warehouse floor surrounded by smashed mirrors and Sam realised that Dean's eyes were bleeding too. What did __**you **__do Dean?_

"Bobby can I ask you something?"

Sam's face was so serious that Bobby could almost hear the 'oh-oh' in his head.

"What is it kid?"

Bobby you've known our family for a long time, Dean said something, before he passed out, and I was wondering if you knew what he meant."

Bobby sat down next to Sam; his face had a guarded look. "What'd he say?"

"Bobby has Dean killed someone before? Before Grace?"

Bobby hesitated before he spoke, dropped his eyes, and Sam knew he had his answer.

"Why'd you ask that?"

"When he shot Grace, he said he'd swore it wouldn't happen again. Do you know what he was talking about?

Sam knew from the look on Bobby's face that he did.

"What happened, what did he do Bobby?"

Bobby looked at Dean and sighed. He sat forward in the chair, resting his arms on his knees. "He'll probably kill _me_ for this but it's not like it matters now."

"_You were at school Sam, and your dad and Dean had been out on a hunt. John had been hurt so Dean took him back to the car while he did the salt and burn. _

_A guy__ had driven by and then stopped, seems the stupid idjit tried to mug your daddy. He was high on something and musta thought he was an old man on his own. Your daddy got him down but then he pulled a knife on him, cut John up real good too. Your dad was going down when he heard the shout and knew it was your brother. _

_He said the guy grabbed him and turned him round to face Dean__, using him as a shield. He put the knife to John's throat and had started to cut when the guy's face just exploded. _

_Your daddy told me later that it was the best damn kill shot he'd ever seen__, although I __**know **__he __**never **__told your brother that. Dean was still a good bit off and running almost full tilt when he took the shot and he still got him almost right between the eyes. Dean's instinct was to protect his dad and John didn't even think that Dean's had thought about what he was doing until it was done. A couple of inches out though and it would have been your daddy's face they would have been scraping up. John says that there was no doubt in his mind that the guy had intended to kill him and that Dean saved his life. _

_Dean was in state when the__y got to mine though, I don't think he slept for over a week, it ate him up inside, knowing Dean probably still does. John was worried, he made Dean sit down though and talk about it, and you know how hard that is. He was worried that after everything that your brother has seen and done it would harden him somehow to the fact that he had taken a life, I mean your dad knows what that's like from being a marine. Last talk they had about it though your brother swore to John that it wouldn't happen again. They never spoke about it again."_

"Me personally, I think it pushed your brother the other way, made him care more not less. Maybe that's why on a hunt if he can't save someone it kills him too a little. "

"Why did I never know about this?"

"Well you know your family. It's not like you all don't keep secrets Sammy. And anyhow, how do you bring something like that up in a conversation Sam, how are you, by the way I shot someone dead! Your brother just didn't want you to know, hell he's never spoke about it to John or me since then, far as I know. Just another thing he's got bottled up inside him" Bobby lifted his cap and scratched at his hair. "Your brother's complicated."

Sam looked round at Bobby, thinking that that was the understatement of the year. "He scares me sometimes, you know."

"What? Your brother would protect you with his life and you're scared of him?"

"No, no, Bobby. Not scared of him, scared for him. He always puts himself last, never seems to care what happens to him. He takes way too many risks where I'm concerned, his need to protect me, it clouds his judgement, I'm afraid…. I'm afraid it'll get him killed someday. Hell, it almost did already."

Sam took his brother's hand in his, feeling the need for a connection, for the comfort that only his brother brought to him.

Another thought that had been troubling Sam since Dean had stabbed his leg pushed its way forward bringing with it another picture into Sam's head. _His brother and him together in the cabin after rescuing their 'dad'. Dean talking to him, his voice low, his face serious. "I mean, for you or dad, the things I'm willing to do or kill; its just it scares me sometimes."_

Bobby's voice pulled him back. "Dean would do anything for you, you know that don't you?"

He looked over at Bobby and smiled a wry smile. "Yeah, Bobby I guess I do. I guess he's proved that. I guess that, after Dad, that's what I'm really afraid of."

Bobby stood and put his hand on Sam's shoulder. "He'll be alright, he will, Dean's always alright." Bobby walked over to the door and turned.

"At least, he is as long as he's got you."


	8. Epilogue

Epilogue

Some time later

Dean hadn't spoken about Grace and Sam, well Sam for once hadn't asked. He knew how much what he had done was troubling his brother and he couldn't bear to add to it. So for once, Sam let it slide; if Dean wanted to talk he would be there for him but if he didn't, well that was alright.

Dean was sitting on Bobby's porch enjoying the last of the sun's rays, just waiting for the day to end. He was relaxed, the combination of his tablets and the beer that he'd sneaked from Bobby's fridge having the desired numbing effect that he craved. He heard the door creak behind him and knew that his brother had come to join him.

"Sammy." He patted the step beside him, inviting his brother to sit down.

"Dean." Sam laughed as a beer magically appeared before him.

Sam looked at the cooler full of bottles sitting at Dean's side, noticing that despite having been out here awhile his brother had only touched one beer.

"What did you do, empty Bobby's fridge? And weren't you supposed to not be mixing your tablets with alcohol?"

"Yeah, to both those questions."

"So you wanna talk?" Sam voice had a hopeful sound to it.

"No-pe." Dean looked round at him.

"So why'd you invite me to sit down then?" Sam leant forward resting his arms on his legs and look at his brother's tired face.

" 'Cos I left the bottle opener inside and I can't open these damn bottles with my bad hand and my bad shoulder." Dean handed Sam another beer bottle and grinned his best 'Cheshire-cat' grin at him.

"Yeah, I love you too!" Sam laughed as he opened the bottle and handed it back.

"Couldn't live without me dude." Dean raised the bottle in salute.

"Likewise." Sam brought his bottle up against his brothers.

And they sat together in a companionable silence watching as the sun bled into the earth.

.


End file.
